Living Standards of Chinese Farmers RisingTo build a park was only a dream for farmers in Zhuanlu village, Dingzhou city of Hebei province. But now the dream has become a reality as the villagers have started the construction of a self-funded farmers park.The village is famous for its economic prosperity. It has 14 enterprises, the largest three of which report more than 100 million yuan in output value annually. "Since we are no longer worried about food and clothing, we'd like to take a walk in parks like other urban counterparts" said Gao Xishan, an elderly villager. The traditional living style of Chinese farmers has changed. Traveling across the country by plane or train has become common practice among better-off farmers. Some farmers have set up libraries and begun to surf the Internet. Farmer Lou Caigen in east China's Zhejiang province has opened a website. While farmer's living standards improve, statistics showed that the expenses farmers in Anhui Province spend on food, clothing and daily necessities has dropped from 72 percent of their total incomes in 1990 to 67 percent. In some other places the percentage is even lower. |
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